John Gibbons | Clinton science adviser, 86
John Gibbons, 86, a physicist who was the chief White House science adviser to President Bill Clinton and who was a leading authority on using science to conserve energy, died July 17 at a retirement facility in Crozet, Va. He had complications from a stroke, his wife, Mary Ann Gibbons, said.
John Gibbons, 86, a physicist who was the chief White House science adviser to President Bill Clinton and who was a leading authority on using science to conserve energy, died July 17 at a retirement facility in Crozet, Va. He had complications from a stroke, his wife, Mary Ann Gibbons, said.
Mr. Gibbons was a scientist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee before coming to Washington in 1973 as the first director of the Federal Office of Energy Conservation. Balancing science and public policy for much of his career, he later became director of the congressional Office of Technology Assessment before joining the Clinton administration in 1993.
At the White House, Mr. Gibbons held the titles of director of the White House Office of Science and Technology and assistant to the president for science and technology. He was a member of the National Security Council, Domestic Policy Council, and National Economic Council. He worked with Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, and other top officials to coordinate governmentwide science and technology policies.
"A compelling argument could be made that my primary role is to illuminate the issues that matter and to build a network to support them," Gibbons told the New York Times in 1993. - Washington Post